Thanks To ‘The Catch,’ David Tyree At Peace With Giants Career

David Tyree hauls in "The Catch" during Super Bowl XLII. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — Eli Manning took home the MVP. Plaxico Burress had the game-winning catch. David Tyree got the biggest prize in the 2008 Super Bowl — an unforgettable moment that forever will be his.

It led to Manning’s last-minute touchdown pass to Burress and changed Tyree’s life.

The New Jersey native became a hero in the New York metropolitan area, earned up to $15,000 per appearance fees, made numerous television and radio appearances and wrote a book.

“The truth of it was I was never going to have a moment ever in my career that was going to eclipse that,” Tyree said in a conference call about what is known as “The Catch” in Giants history. “It gave me a sense of peace as far as moving on and knowing I had a career that I can be satisfied with.”

“It’s not about the money,” he added. “it’s about, for me, having a moment that transcends my own personal career, to be a part of Giants history, NFL history, Super Bowl history,” Tyree said. “That’s something that most people who’ve had far better careers than myself never had.”

A sixth-round draft pick out of Syracuse by the Giants in 2003, Tyree didn’t do much after the Super Bowl. He hurt his knee and missed the following season, and spent his last year with Baltimore, failing to make a catch. He retired in 2010 after signing a one-day contract with the Giants.

Off the field, Tyree has turned around his life. His days of drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana are long behind him and he has become born-again Christian.

The 32-year-old father of six serves as the director of strategic partnerships at Tepidus Group, a company involved in wealth management, marketing and philanthropic ventures. He is also writing another book with his wife, Leilah, that intends to “challenge the core of our culture.”

One thing they will address, he said is “how we esteem people who are in the limelight and have been given pedestals and platforms.”

Tyree also is the senior vice president of the International Children’s Support Foundation, which tries to improve the lives children.

After the 2007 regular season, the Giants won all their playoff games on the road, winning at Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay.

Placekicker Lawrence Tynes made game-winning field goals in overtime both conference championship games.

“I might have been just as speechless as I was when we won the Super Bowl four years ago,” Tyree said.

Tyree had three catches in the Super Bowl, including one for a touchdown. The one everybody remembers is the 32-yarder on a third-and-5 play with 1:15 to play and the Giants trailing the then-unbeaten Patriots 14-10.

Manning avoided a big pass rush and lofted a long pass down the middle. Tyree leapt, got his hands on the ball, then pinned it against his helmet, first with one hand and then the other. All the while, Harrison was pulling Tyree to the ground by the arm.

Harrison said Wednesday that the only time he thought about the play was when his son gave him a book for Christmas a couple of years ago with a picture of the play on the front cover.

“It’s in my office,” Harrison said. “Every time I walk in my office I see it so I’m reminded of it every single day.

“But it doesn’t haunt me. It’s something that happened, you know. It’s almost funny because I look back at my career and I started thinking, do I have any regrets? And I don’t really have any regrets because I played hard, I played tough, I played physical and you ask this guy to make this catch a million other times, he doesn’t make it. So it’s just one of those things that you look at and say, ‘wow, you know what? No matter what I could have done, he was going to catch that ball. It was just meant to happen.’ ”

Call it fate. But it’s a catch that made Tyree famous and gave him a place in football history.

Where does “The Catch” rank among the greatest plays in Giants history? Sound off below…

(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)